By its very nature, the renewable-energy industry is one of the most innovative around. Solar power, wind power, fuel cells -- all are the result of technologies deployed mostly in just the past decade. But what makes this generation of upstarts truly exciting isn't the power (literally) of their inventions, but the manner in which those innovations came to be.
Check out the winners of this month's Innovation Scorecard, a project by Fast Company and the Monitor Group to identify the most innovative companies in key industries. Changing World Technologies compresses millions of years of decomposition into just a few hours. Just as impressive, its oil-from-junk works just fine with current fuel systems. Likewise, Konarka Technologies doesn't require a rethink of existing technologies: Its foldable solar cell will power any number of cell phones or laptops.
Energy Innovations' solution to the low efficiency of solar cells is to focus 25 times more light on them with mirrors. And Ballard Power Systems is keeping its edge through tight partnerships with carmakers and an Edisonian approach, incrementally testing new designs to ensure its ideas don't go the way of the dinosaurs.
Speaking of dinosaurs, what are those big oil and gas companies up to?
West Hempstead, New York
www.changingworldtech.com
Brian S. Appel doesn't sell snake oil, but he could. A veteran entrepreneur with experience pitching chocolates, concert tickets, and perfume, Appel runs a venture, Changing World Technologies, that can convert just about anything -- from turkey scraps to tires to used cell phones -- into oil.
CWT has discovered a shortcut to a process that normally requires millions of years. The company takes fats, bones, feathers, and grease hauled from ConAgra's Butterball plant in Carthage, Missouri, and blends the material into sludge. After a few hours of extreme heat and pressure, voila! One ton of turkey scraps yields 640 pounds of heating oil, 100 pounds of methane, and 60 pounds of fertilizer (plus another 1,200 pounds of, um, leftovers). Appel says the $31 million plant goes through about 250 tons of biowaste a day, producing 20,000 gallons of fuel that's sold to a local industrial customer for heating.
It sounds too good to be true -- and indeed, some observers say the thermal depolymerization technology is far from proven. (Appel fielded a call in 2003 from a Securities and Exchange Commission investigator concerned that the company was hyping its science in advance of an IPO. No offering was planned, then or now.) But on a small scale, it shows remarkable promise.
CWT's secret to innovation? It thinks inside the box. "We look for where we can take advantage of existing infrastructure," says Appel. Some alternative energies such as hydrogen fuel cells and biodiesel, he points out, require customers to adopt new machinery and practices. But "you can't alienate the people with the existing infrastructure. That's a self-serving boutique mentality."
Instead, CWT engineers look for ways to innovate within existing systems. The company's fuels are designed to burn in today's boilers and engines, while leftover materials are ground into farm-ready fertilizers. CWT also applies in-the-box thinking to smaller logistical practices. "Seventy-five percent of my team is focused on optimizing," says Appel."Is there a better pump to pump the fuel? Is there a better heater to heat it? Can we do it better?"
That focus on practicality has inspired the company to look to other waste products that may someday be converted into fuels, such as junk plastic and rubber. CWT is currently running a test with USCAR -- the research cooperative of the Big Three automakers -- to create fuel from leftover car parts such as foam seats and rubber hoses. Even sewage is a viable fuel source.
That's an outlandish vision -- your toilet connected to an oil refinery. But it's not so far-fetched in Europe, where CWT is looking to set up several biowaste plants, including one that's pending in Ireland. The innovation's future is less certain in the United States, where its economics are muddied by recent legislation that creates incentives for rival technologies -- and where the biggest barrier, Appel says, isn't the science itself, but the status quo. -- Lucas Conley
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